Store Visit: Patagonia Palo Alto

photo from Yelp.com

Last week I was in the San Francisco Bay Area for a business trip and was able to run by the Patagonia Palo Alto store.  The stop was made all the more convenient since the Caltrain stop is just across the street from the store.

photo from Jun Seita's Flickr roll

I've probably been to this store 8 times since it opened and I'm telling you, the NICEST people work there.  Totally unpretentious, genuinely interested in helping, and knowledgeable about their products.  A few times ago, they also gave me a canvas "Patagonia Palo Alto" store book bag as a gift with purchase.  When you walk into some stores, you just want to turn around and leave because the merchandise is poorly displayed or the employees are cold and rude.  Not so at Patagonia PA.  They have a great selection of Patagonia gear and are eager to help you find anything that they don't have in store (even if they are sometimes unsuccessful, like the time a few years ago I was looking for the Down Jacket in black, size small--not to be found anywhere!). 

It's also conveniently located near Stanford University, so you can research some nuclear physics, then come by and get a Patagonia Nano Puff!  Plus University Avenue is the local drag just a street over, so it makes it easy to drop into one of my favorite shops, Palo Alto Bicycles. 

The next time you're around the Bay Area, pay the good folks at Patagonia Palo Alto a visit and tell them the Patagonia Community sent you!  (They'll probably look at you like, "What's the Patagonia Community?")

And for the record, no one is paying me to write this blog post--I'm just a fan (and you'll be one too after a visit!).